Magic Eden pivots from NFT marketplaces on EVM and Bitcoin to prioritize gambling venture
The NFT platform Magic Eden is reallocating resources away from NFTs toward Dicey, its casino offering, after its private beta attracted approximately 200 participants who placed $15 million in wagers over a two-month period.
The Solana-native nonfungible token (NFT) trading platform Magic Eden has announced it will discontinue its support for Bitcoin and Ethereum networks as the company prepares to concentrate its efforts on Dicey, its forthcoming online casino and sports betting platform.
In a Friday announcement posted on X, Magic Eden's CEO and co-founder Jack Lu revealed that the company will be discontinuing support for its Ethereum Virtual Machine along with its Bitcoin-based Runes and Ordinals trading platforms on March 9, to be followed by the shutdown of its Bitcoin API on March 27, with its cryptocurrency wallet being discontinued on April 1.
Lu further explained that the company plans to terminate its NFT buyback program while it focuses on "doubling down" on Dicey, stating that he sees a "massive opportunity" within the iGaming sector, also known as online gambling.
"It is clear we're entering a new era where finance and entertainment merge," Lu said, adding he was "incredibly bullish" on Dicey's two-month-old closed beta, which has seen 200 users wager over $15 million.
The Dicey platform provides an on-chain casino experience and has plans to introduce a sportsbook feature in a comparable manner to blockchain-based gambling platforms like Stake.
Magic Eden cutting NFTs to streamline toward gambling
According to Lu, the platform will shift to "exclusively" concentrate on NFT packs, which are bundles containing random NFTs drawn from different collections, functioning in a manner similar to physical trading card packs.
Lu explained that the strategic pivot was primarily driven by the fact that the majority of the platform's product offerings were not making substantial contributions to the company's overall revenues.
"80% of our cost are tied to products generating only 20% of our revenue. By winding down these products, we're refocusing on our Solana roots [and] retaining our most profitable products, betting on deep on crypto entertainment, and positioning our products for long term growth."
The nonfungible token marketplace sector has experienced substantial negative impacts during a wider cryptocurrency market decline that has persisted over recent months, with prominent platforms like Nifty Gateway revealing in January that the service would be ceasing operations.
During the early days of February, the overall NFT marketplace had pulled back to valuation levels that hadn't been observed since prior to the market's explosive growth in 2021, dropping to under a $1.5 billion market capitalization.